-DATE-
19680929
-YEAR-
1968
-DOCUMENT_TYPE-
SPEECH
-AUTHOR-
F. CASTRO
-HEADLINE-
HAVANA PROVINCE CDR RALLY
-PLACE-
HAVANA'S PLAZA DE LA REVOLUCION
-SOURCE-
HAVANA DOMESTIC RADIO
-REPORT_NBR-
FBIS
-REPORT_DATE-
19680930
-TEXT-
CASTRO SPEAKS AT HAVANA PROVINCE CDR RALLY

Havana Domestic Radio and Television Services in Spanish 0102 GMT 29 Sep 68
F

[Speech by Cuban Prime Minister Fidel Castro at a rally in Havana's Plaza
de la Revolucion commemorating the eighth anniversary of the Committees for
the Defense of the Revolution--live]

[Text] Comrade vanguard members of the Committees for the Defense of the
Revolution (CDR) from all over the nation, comrade members of the CDR from
Havana Province, a year has passed since our last meeting. On that occasion
we spoke about the tasks facing us in the year to come. Some figures were
given. We talked about plans and it may well be said that last year, 28
September, marked the beginning of a material as well as a political
revolution. In other words, it was the beginning of a real revolution in
the spirit of the masses of our country's capital.

We must say today that the revolution can feel satisfied about the enormous
work and ideological effort exerted in Havana Province and most
particularly in our nation's capital. Let us say something which is a
historical truth--that is, that historically, a revolution has never taken
place in Cuba's capital. During the era of our independence struggles, the
war waged in our countryside against hundreds of thousands of Spanish
soldiers took place, essentially, in Oriente, Camaguey, and Las Villas
Provinces. Above all, during the period of the "10 Years War," and during
the last war of our Mambises, the struggle occurred along the length and
breadth of the country, in all the provinces.

Even so, unfortunately, because of the colonial military power, during
those 30 years Havana continued under the iron-handed domination of the
colonial forces. The revolution cold not triumph in our country on that
occasion. The nation passed from a Spanish colony to the period of Yankee
intervention which lasted for several years; and the Yankee intervention
period to a semi-independent republic and from a semi-independent republic,
to generalized corruption.

The traditional political parties and their narrow views were under the
vigilant supervision of Yankee imperialism and its institutionalized right
to meddle in our country. These parties took on, in conjunction with
imperialism, the infamous task of destroying the patriotic and the
revolutionary spirit of our people. Although it is quite true that during
the years of the semi-independent republic in certain regions of the
nation, the revolutionary tradition of our people was maintained to a
relatively high degree, it must certainly be said that politicking and
corruption and the deformation of the patriotic revolutionary spirit
practically reached every corner of the nation.

It was in 1959, with the triumph which we have decided to call the triumph
of the rebellion, that the real possibility of a real revolution was
provided for the first time in our country's history. This revolution
began--this real revolution began--in our fatherland after the triumph of
the rebellion. We must say that these years have indeed been ones of
struggle. They have been years of revolutionary struggle and also years of
revolutionary triumphs.

But we wonder how long revolutionary spirit was delayed in the capital of
our country. Let us not mistake the triumph of sentiment, the triumph of
enthusiasm, the triumph of emotions for the triumph of consciousness.

Nor must we accuse the masses of our capital who have always shown so much
enthusiasm for all revolutionary matters. But many factors had come
together in our capital. In its gaudy mansions lived the richest families
of the country--families of livestock raisers, landholders, and
industrialists. The phenomenon of bureaucracy was concentrated in our
capital. It was the seat of all its administrative and political
activities, the principal hub of commercial and speculative activities. It
was also the center of a section of the proletariat which, with reason, has
been described on other occasions as a labor aristocracy. And we say quite
clearly that the petit bourgeois spirit prevailed in the capital of our
country, despite the presence of a considerable segment of true industrial
revolutionaries, and extensive areas of humble classes of our people.

However, the old spirit of the colony, the old spirit of the republic with
all its vices, and above all the influence of Yankee imperialism,
adulterated the capital of our country culturally, politically,
ideologically, and it was pronounced in every way. We can say that it took
years for the triumph of revolutionary consciousness to reach our masses,
and we truly believe that it has been in this past year that this
revolutionary triumph has become more apparent in the awareness of the
masses of our capital. [applause]

Into what has this been translated? Into an extraordinary spirit of work,
into a gigantic productive effort. That is, when the revolution could--as a
result of its own development, as the result of accumulated experience, as
the result of attained organization--launch the masses of the capital to
support economic development of our country, the results of which can be
described as really astounding. And we wish to expound in synthesis the
result of the work in this province. In the first place we must divide the
province into two parts: the greenbelt and the area beyond it.

What was done in the Havana greenbelt: Production of coffee nurseries was
the first phase: nurseries built--15; area covered by those nurseries--69
caballerias; coffee seeds sown--50 metric tons; polyethylene bags filled
with earth--123 million; seedlings sprouted in seedplots--125 million;
seedlings transplanted into poly bags--115 million; seedlings replanted--10
million; umbraculas built--70,000 man-days used in this task--2.5 million.

These seedlings were distributed as follows: to Matanzas
Province--1,109,000 to Las Villas Province--406,000; to Isle of
Pines--3,398,000; to the regions in the outer part of the
proving--23,980,000; in the Havana greenbelt-24,072,000. Losses in
nurseries and in transit amounted to 7,381,000. There remain in nurseries
for planting and replanting, 43,954,000.

All the administrative organizations of our capital, the regions of our
party, and the masses of our capital, in general, participated in these
plans and were mobilized through the Committees for the Defense of the
Revolution (CDR). There are figures for what each of the organizations did,
and each of the sections and regions did.

Coffee plant nurseries, second phase because the figure given refers to the
first phase: filled poly bags--28,449,524, poly bags with seedlings, direct
planting--22,914,693; poly bags with plants--20,487,129, including the poly
bags which have been filled by workers from the capital of the republic at
the Isle of Pines nursery.

Fruit orchards--production of fruit tree nurseries: mangoes--164,279 trees
and 824,582 being processed; guanabana--180,379 and 184,496 being
processed. And so it goes with the following fruit trees; I will not try to
give you all the figures: mango, guanabana, lichi, (?lemon), avocado,
(maranon), native lemon, tamarind, mamey, and others--2,678,357 fruit tree
saplings have been produced and 2,393,277 are being processed.

Forestry--lumber and ornamental trees. Stock in the national Institute for
the Development of the Forestry Industry: 11 species--4,613,149 saplings.
Stock in in-transit nurseries of the Havana greenbelt: 42 species--629,994;
for a total of 5,243,143 lumber and ornamental tree saplings. Stock in a
total of nine nurseries--there are so many statistics that it would take
too long to list the machinery and resources employed.

Planted fruit trees in the Havana greenbelt--908,389; coffee plants
planted--39,400,613. We have to add some 5 or 6 million seedlings which
were brought from other provinces at the end of last year to the number of
seedlings produced in Havana which went to the greenbelt. Pigeon peas
[gandul]--13,793,110 plants, and (?lumber trees)--2,612,913 plants. This is
what has been planted.

In other words, almost all the coffee has been planted in the greenbelt.
There are 39.4 million plants which, when added to the coffee plants
distributed for backyard planting, makes a grand total of something more
than 40 million plants.

As far as fruit tree planting is concerned, many trees have yet to be
planted because of the inevitable delay pending the development of grafted
trees and there were still insufficient trees available at this time, but
the fruit tree planting plan will also be completed during the coming
months.

Here also are data on the planting of each variety of fruit trees, of
lumber tree planting. Windbreaking stands: projected windbreaking
stands--531,401 meters, in other words, more than 500 kilometers of
windbreak stands have been projected, not planted. Planted--212,619 meters.
Terraced hillsides--59, planted hillsides--44.

Schools organized--two courses lasting 3 months for grafting technicians,
three courses for coffee technicians, and one course for operators of small
tractors.

Construction in the greenbelt--eight small towns built: Allegrande--120
houses; Autopista--nine houses, Cubanacau--30 houses; Caturra--36 houses;
100th Street--15 houses; Los Hangoes--17 houses, Matires de la Coubre--12
houses; Capdevila--21 houses; four towns under construction with 94 more
houses, for a total of 354 houses in small towns.

Completed "microplans": in 1967--193; 1968-442.

"Mircroplans" under construction: in 1968-102; total completed and under
construction--534 [as heard]. Total of houses and "microplans" in the
Havana greenbelt--888 dwellings.

Completed water management works include 15 small- and medium-sized dams
which are: the Joseito dam, the Capdevila dam, La Paila, La Perla, Los
Mangoes, Antigua Cantera, La Ceiba, La Guayaba, Las Palmas, Santa Maria, La
Chiquita, Unidad Militar, El Pitirre, Naranjito, and Teresita.

There are 12 additional dams under construction, and on the drawing boards
are 54 more dams, both medium-sized and small, and a large one which will
be the Paso Seco dam on the Almendares River near 100th Street which will
have a capacity of 150 million cubic meters of water. You see what quantity
of water will be stored in the greenbelt area. Of that figure, the largest
part will be impounded by the Paso Seco dam, the construction which is
beginning at this time. This is to say that the Havana greenbelt will have
150 million cubic meters of water.

Recapitulation of mobilization: man-days in nurseries--2,527,000; man-days
in planting, counting all organizations--6,606,000 man-days and woman-days.
Woman-days were 2,906,000; man-days were 3.7 million. The daily average of
workers was 25,100.

Immediate future plans: Havana nurseries, 1968--50 million seedlings;
Havana nurseries, 1969--130 million; Isle of Pines nurseries, 1968--30
million, for a total of 210 million more. This includes the plans for Isle
of Pines and those for southern Matanzas, where the seedlings will be sent.

Further, 70 million citrus fruit seedlings must be produced from 1968 to
1970, for the entire country. This means that Havana Province is producing
coffee seedlings for other provinces, and citrus seedlings for almost the
entire country.

Wooded areas in all the low-lying places and soil inadequate for coffee:
The promotion of microwoods will be concluded with forest varieties, and in
some places, with fruit trees if the soil permits, which, similar to those
being grown near dams, serve to beautify the area and furnish recreation.
The total will be about 1,000 microwoods in the Havana greenbelt. Besides
the microwoods we have planted some large woods. For example, the
Solidarity Woods, situated between 100th Street, Calzada de (Bejutal) and
Perla, an area of 16 caballerias, totally planted with 98,428 forest and
ornamental plants measuring more than three meters tall.

National Zoological Park: There are 12 caballerias reserved for this park
in the Rio Cristal area. At present the project is being carried out by the
Construction Ministry. That is, they are working on it.

Metropolitan Park: This project is being executed by the Physical Planning
Institute and the Botanical Garden. Approximately 40 caballerias are
reserved for it. A nursery with 98 species has been installed, and it has
236,020 forest and ornamental seedlings.

The three kinds of woods proposed--semi-dense, dense, and wild--will serve
as a special symbol of athletic installations such as boxing arenas,
volleyball and tennis courts, baseball diamonds, swimming pools, rowing
channels, and so forth, and will supplement the existing ones in Sports
City. There will also be a cultural area, a children's playground, a
carnival park, an open-air theater, a plastic research area, and a large
auditorium. All of this will be crossed by the expressway from Guira de
Melena, creating a great outlook point in motion, on the scale of a new
greater Havana structure.

Botanical garden: Forty caballerias were reserved for the Havana Botanical
Garden, which will be under the care of Havana University. The project is
in progress, and the nursery has been installed with 57 species amounting
to 23,972 seedlings, besides 317 new varieties which are being raised.

It should be said that with the help of professors from the Havana
University School of Botany, and of a distinguished German professor,
(Bissel), who have worked on this project, the Havana Botanical Garden will
be without any doubt one of the most complete and best in the world.
[applause] And of course this policy of making botanical gardens--so
necessary for research, for education, for the development of all the
useful vegetable species, as food, as fiber, as medicine--this policy will
be followed in the entire country.

There will be a garden equal to the one in Havana Province, the Matanzas
Botanical Garden, a project also involving Havana University, and it will
be planted in a naturally beautiful area, the Yumuri Valley in Matanzas
Province. That botanical garden will be even large than the one in Havana,
and it will also have its zoological park, so that the botanical gardens
and zoos, within our capabilities, will also be in the interior. Certainly
a botanical garden requires very careful work, very careful selection and
study; fortunately it does not require reinforcing rods or cement, nor does
it demand all those materials needed in construction work. This is
something in which we can make substantial progress and make marvelous
things.

We have mentioned how, in the overall plan for this province's development,
just as in the rest of the nation, not only as productive plants taken into
account, not only are the trees which are planted as windbreaks to protect
fruit orchards from hurricanes or from the drying effect of the winds in
other seasons taken into account, but special attention has also been
given--attention which heretofore had never been given in all our country's
history--to plant trees, to make forests, to create a healthful
environment, an attractive environment for the huge population who lives in
this city which was one of the cities with the least number of trees in the
world.

Vacant city lots were used for speculation. Every vacant piece of land
belonged to somebody and that somebody wanted to sell each square meter at
fantastic prices. He sought to enrich himself when somebody or the
development of the city required his land. Real estate sale prices were
fabulous. But today these lands are not the private possession of anybody.
They are the people's property. Now, there is no profit-making motivation
to hamper the improvement of human conditions in this city. This is why
hundreds of thousands of trees have been, and are being, planted.

Never before in times past would 16 caballerias have been set aside in the
heart of the city and another 40 caballerias, also in the heart of the
city, to plant trees for the recreation of our people, because the owners
would have been standing anxiously by for the highest bidder to occupy
those spaces with buildings, not once caring whether the city sooner or
later would be choked up by pavement, industrial plants, toxic gases, smoke
of all kinds, and in short, the plagues which strike modern cities, which,
at times are the cause of serious allergies, such as cases of asthma,
caused by the effect of such gases due to air pollution.

Only under a social system in which contradictions have disappeared between
private interests and the interests of all society, is it possible to bring
about a kind of system that cares for the real needs of man. Therefore the
capital will be beautified. The outskirts will be beautified. There will be
hundreds of small forests. There will be some large forests and we will
also have splendid botanical gardens and a splendid zoo.

There are thousands and thousands of children who visit our small zoo. It
is a great attraction for children as well as being instructional. In the
future we will have a big zoo in our capital. In addition to this we will
have 81 small, medium-sized, and large dams in the greenbelt. All these
dams will be stocked with fish and sports and recreational activities will
be available to enable our capital to have not only more than 1,000
caballerias of fruit trees and forests in the outskirts, but also to have
dozens and dozens of places for relaxation and recreation. And all this was
built with just a little equipment and the persistent efforts of the masses
of the capital, the efforts of our workers who are creating these marvels
for themselves.

The following refers to the greenbelt alone where 40 million coffee plats
have been planted. What does this mean? I will give you an example: Among
the coffee producing nations, take Mexico for example, we understand that 5
million coffee plants are planted each year in Mexico, according to what a
comrade told me. Well then, just in the Havana greenbelt alone, eight times
that figure has been planted. In addition to the greenbelt, additional
quantities have been planted in the interior of the province. But the work
has not been restricted to this alone. Our working masses have also carried
out an enormous effort in the rest of the province. Let us see how this
effort works out: In 1967, 6,373 caballerias of and were planted to
sugarcane, pasturage, forage, vegetables, orchards, and tobacco in Havana
Province.

The above figures include 1,500 to 2,000 caballerias planted by peasants
for self-consumption. But in 1968, 9,153.5 caballerias have been planted so
far, and with the planting of potatoes, vegetables, and the sugarcane, to
be planted during the last three months, and other crops, we will attain
the figure of 15,186 caballerias, not including the land planted by the
peasants for self-consumption. In other words, we have tripled the
cultivated farm lands in one year.

Production analysis in thousands of quintals: Naturally, a large share of
this year's effort is not reflected in this year's total, but mainly in
that for next year.

But let us see what production was in rootcrops, grain, truck garden
produce, and fruit. In 1965 it was 5,268,000,001 quintals; in 1966 it was
4,964,000; in 1967 it was 5,619,009; in 1968 it has already reached the
figure of 5,252,000 quintals, and will, by 31 December, be 7,502,004
quintals.

Now, we used to receive much from the interior, and little was sent to it.
This year for example, no, in 1966, we received from the interior 2.7
million quintals of this produce, aside from what was produced in the
province; in that year the province sent 429,000 quintals to the interior.
In 1967 it received 1.2 million quintals from the interior, and sent
506,000 quintals to it. In 1968 it has received only 382,000 quintals from
outside the province, and has sent 563,002 quintals. For the first time in
the history of this county, what this province is sending to the other
provinces in produce of this type is more than it is receiving from them.

Of course last year was a very dry year. That drought had an effect on the
production of vegetables for part of this year, and made it necessary for
Havana Province, despite the little it received from the other provinces,
to send more of its produce to other provinces than any other year. But
next year, since rainfall this season has been good, this province will
have available not only much large production than it has this year, but
one chiefly for its own consumption. We must keep in mind that this year
the province practically supplied itself, and if the production increase
was not reflected in increased consumption, it was because in earlier years
it used to receive almost 3 million quintals from the other provinces,
whereas this year it did not reach even 400,000 quintals. The situation
next year will be incomparably better.

Some produce, yellow corn on the cob, for example, in 1965 amounted to
56,583,000 quintals; in 1966 it was 36 million; in 1967 it was 56 million,
to use round numbers. In this year, production has been, counting what was
harvested and what is being harvested, 95,929,000 quintals on the cob. This
practically doubles the fresh yellow corn available for consumption last
year. In 1967, 1,087 caballerias of sugarcane were planted. This year, this
province will plant, counting what has been and will be planted, 4,146
caballerias of sugarcane. This is 3,059 more caballerias than were planted
in 1967. Sugarcane planting quadrupled.

In 1970 this province will produce 1 million tons of sugar. We must say
that the goal for this province, including the mills which were added from
Artemisa region, would be somewhat more than 700,000 tons of sugar.
Nevertheless this province will contribute to the 10 million-ton harvest
over 200,000 additional tons of sugar, inasmuch as the province was
formerly considered to be short of land to supply the installed capacity of
all its sugarmills. Not only will these capacities be supplied, but some of
them will be expanded. This province will therefore produce or overproduce
its goal for 1970 by not less than 200,000 tons of sugar. [applause]

The winter cane planting is being done in twin furrows, and beginning 1
November, will be done in triple furrows. In 1970 the province will harvest
4,500 caballerias for the first time, plus 500 caballerias which will be
the second cutting for that year. Aside from its existing cane, the
province used to receive cane from Matanzas and Pinar del Rio. This
province had about 800 caballerias planted in cane for this (?harvest). In
1970, this province will meet and overfulfill its goal without using even
one stalk of cane from Pinar del Rio or Matanzas Province. Thus it will not
be necessary to transport 800 caballerias of cane over such a long
distance.

Coffee: Besides the seedlings planted in the Havana greenbelt, at this time
we have planted in this province 23 million more seedlings, which makes a
total of 62 million coffee seedlings planted so far. In October and
November, we will plant between 20 and 30 million more coffee seedlings. So
that by year's end, Havana Province will have no less than 80 million
coffee plants. [applause]

In the not too distant future, Havana Province will be completely
self-sufficient in a product which used to come from Oriente Province, from
the mountains of Oriente Province, and it will have a surplus for export.
Special attention has been given to weeding, crop dusting, fertilization,
and replanting of all areas.

We must say that our workers have coped with a hard spring and its heavy
rains and they have been battling the weeds in May, June, and July, the
whole spring in fact, and even now, but a gigantic effort was made under
the 28 September goal.

In some areas the plantations are absolutely free of weeds and look like
gardens. Not all are exactly the same. Not all of them are situated on
exactly the same kind of soil. It is known that red soil is especially
preferred for coffee although it also prospers in black soil. Not all soils
are of the same quality but even in less fertile soils, we are struggling
and the plants are prospering.

Not all the organizations have exerted the same effort. But many
organizations have made an extraordinary effort. We must say, to mention
one organization, for example, that the Havana Metropolitan Administration
has an area in Santa Amelia--a subdivision they were going to develop over
there--with 2 million plus coffee plants in an area which truly looks like
a garden. The Marianao region has worked especially well too. In short, we
are not going to list them all, we do not want to put the organizations
which have not put out a maximum effort on the spot because we know that at
this time they are all making an effort.

In general, however, we have worked intensively and the battle of the
Havana greenbelt is being won. [applause] In the next 6 months we expect
that all the fruit trees will have been planted, that is, in the next 6 to
8 months. And what remains to be done by the way of windbreaks, roads, and
dams in the belt, will be completed in 1969.

We have planted 544 caballerias of malanga in a special effort and they
have all been irrigated. Seventeen tons of fertilizers have been used on
them. This will guarantee a production next year of no less than 1 million
quintals. In other words, double the 1968 output. [applause]

Bananas: 72 caballerias have been planted and by year's end, 200
caballerias of bananas will have been planted. Seed has been brought from
the Barocoa region for this planting. In other words, the variety of banana
being planted is immune to (panama) [presumably a plant disease]. It is a
seed that was almost extinct in Cuba. It is being planted in the various
provinces but Havana Province will reach a planting of 200 caballerias of
bananas.

Onions and garlic: This year in Havana Province, no less than 206
caballerias of onions will be planted along with 23 caballerias of garlic.
[applause] Havana Province comrades have built 100 machines for the
planting of the onion caballerias. The onions will be planted with machines
and will be cultivated with herbicides. Without machines and herbicides all
of you here on the Plaza would not be enough to accomplish a similar
planting. All the nurseries [are ready] and planting will begin in the next
few days. Next year we will have more than enough onions for this province.
We are planting only 23 caballerias of garlic because that was all the
garlic seed we could import. However, all of these 33 caballerias will be
set aside for replanting next year. This means that we will not have any
garlic form this effort in 1969. But we will have garlic in 1970 because we
are going to replant all the garlic we get from the 23 caballerias. This
will resolve the problem once and for all. [applause] But we will have
onions. [applause]

Rice: This year some 1,000 caballerias will be planted. Of these, 514 have
already been planted.

The new ones being sown will be end-of-year rice, that is, winter rice. In
1967 only 48 caballerias of rice were sown in the province, so from the 48
of 1967, 514 are already sown and 400 more will be sown. This is an
increase of more than 20 times. A caballeria has been sown with the IRU
variety. Various areas are being prepared for sowing in the months of
October and November: 50 caballerias of this variety, which has a very high
yield.

Pineapple: Up to now, 2,672,675 pineapple plants of the smooth leaf variety
have been planted in an area of 9.5 caballerias, with 1,702,778 plants.
This is really a new variety without thorns and with smooth leaves which
did not exist in Cuba and which is highly productive: Coulaya [strain]
32-33; with a [word indistinct] of 32, 33, 53, 125 plants, Factura [strain]
25; 5,000 plants, and a variety called Baron Rothschild; 100 plants. This
must be the baron who developed or helped to develop this type of variety.
At present there are 1 million being sown now, so that in our country there
were a total of 238,000 pineapple plants of the smooth leaf type, which is
the best for canning. And already this year it has risen to 2,672,175
plants.

Pineapples cannot multiply like coffee or like citrus. It is necessary to
depend on the small number of cuttings that each plant produces. Therefore,
the pineapple plants must necessarily be slower, but our country has
acquired in a few months millions of plants and is going forward with
magnificent prospects in its pineapple production plan, not depending
entirely on what was here, which is a good pineapple but not very
productive and not very suitable for canning.

Citrus: In the interior of the province 25,770,700 plants have been
produced, guaranteeing the sowing of 7,000 caballerias of citrus next year
throughout the country. Here are enumerated all the kinds of citrus
trees--oranges, mandarin orange, grapefruit, lemon--and the valencia, white
mayajigua, riverside, navels, la china, parson brown, pina, (lue-gina),
nancy, reina, clementina, espanola; grapefruit--march, white seedless, ruby
pink seedless, white with seed; (?tangelos), which are hybrids of the
orange and grapefruit, (tangelo) orlando, sanson, thorton; limes--sweet
limes, creole lemons, persian lemons; tangorn--this is a combination of
mandarin orange with orange--hortanique and temple varieties. That is, we
have 20 varieties of citrus fruits of the best qualities.

Havana Province will plant between 1969 and 970 1,000 caballerias of citrus
fruits. Besides, it will continue producing plants for the rest of the plan
throughout the country, and the province is to produce 70 million more
citrus plants for the national plan. This required 907 quintals of seed of
the different varieties. And 1644 pieces of ground [canteros] of 33
caballerias and 106 caballerias for the pocket nurseries. That is to say
that the citrus nurseries require much work, and it is a problem if it
cannot be solved with herbicides and therefore they have been getting
closer, so that the new nurseries will be nearer the city.

Cattleraising: Great efforts have been made in this field. Since May, the
beginning of Spring, to the first of September--in 15 months--1730
caballerias of pasture and forrage have been sown. This is double the
figure of last year and will reach 2,000 caballerias of pasture this year.

In artificial insemination, 82,000 cows and heifers are under the plan,
with only eight percent of the cows not pregnant. There is a plan for a
bull (?pen) of 10,000 bulls. In the state sector, all cattle with
tuberculosis or brucellosis have been eliminated. I do not know whether
this fact is known; during this year, that is, from the end of last year
and this year, all tubercular cows or those with brucellosis in the state
sector were eliminated. And this policy is followed in general: to have
cattle absolutely free of tuberculosis and brucellosis, and actually there
are very few--perhaps one or two--countries that have cattle free of
tuberculosis and brucellosis. [applause]

Moreover, the production of milk have been increasing. It will continue to
increase in the entire country from now to 1970, when half a million cows
enter into production.

Cattle breeding this year at genetic centers--In Flor de Itabo, 15; Nina
Sierra, 4; Ceibon and Castillo, 4; Catalina (del Huila), 4; Nina Golita, 2;
Sierra Maestra, 1; La Receta, 2; La Copa, 1; in all, 33 genetic
centers--dairies. Cattle pens (?which) double as dairies, 22: Nazareno 2;
Maurin, 1; Artemisa, 3; [words indistinct], 1; [word indistinct] 1; Valle
de la Victoria, 1; total, 33 dairies. These, with the genetic centers, make
a total of something more than 70 new milk production centers.

Centers for calf raising that are being built: 130; that is, installations
for raising calves; mircoplans in milk zones: 83; towns built in the
interior: Nina Sierra, 30 houses; Ceibon y Castillo 20; Maurin, 30; Nina
Bonita, 40; Rotolactor 25; total, 145; mircoplans 173. This makes a total
of 318 houses.

Roads and highways are being built in the following parts of the cattle
country: Valle del Peru, Valle de la Victoria, Maurin, Baracoa, Mina
Bonita; Tierra del Triunfo, Pedro (Pirro) Rasafe, Rotolactor as part of the
roads that are being built in the province.

Our insemination center of Havana Province is without doubt one of the most
modern in the world and at present four additions are being finished for
the installation of air conditioning. It has been shown that in our climate
the health of the animals--that is, the bulls--devoted to reproduction and
their production is incomparably higher in a temperature somewhat lower
than the usual temperature of our country and, consequently, the
installation of air conditioning there is being completed.

Dams in the interior of Havana--Microdams finished, 22; under construction,
two; to be started, three. There will also be abundant resources of water
in the interior of Havana. Among the dams to be begun this year are the
three most important that will be built in the province. They are: Paso
Seco--which we have already talked about--the system of the Cange with 50
million cubic meters for the irrigation of cane; Mamposton with 18 million
of cubic meters which will irrigate the pasture area.

Work is being done on the irrigation system, on the drainage systems in the
whole province. At the moment 17 roads are under construction.

In the matter of schools, already completed are one in Boca de Jaruco with
a capacity of 300 students, one in Vallegrande with a capacity of 300
students.

Under construction are one in Valle del Peru to house 300 students, one in
Batabano, in the little town of Nancahuazu, with a capacity for 300
children, and in El Changre, toward the southwest of Madruga, one for 300
students. Construction of school buildings will be given priority next
year, more than to microplans.

Plans have been made to build 30 secondary boarding schools of 500 students
each in the citrus fruits, bananas, and pineapple regions. Construction of
four schools will begin in Santa Amelia, Artemisa, Alquizar, and Ceiba del
Agua. Four fumigation landing strips, 12 rice dryers, 150 tobacco houses, a
liquid feed processing plant, 65 shelters, and four workers dining halls
have been built. This is the impressive work that the people of the capital
have been doing during the past year. We have mentioned only the
agricultural projects in the Havana Province, only the agricultural
projects that the people has been working on, and in only one province.
This list would be unending if we included the work done in Isle of Pines,
Pinar del Rio, Matanzas, Las Villas, Camaguey, and Oriente.

This goes to show the advancement on all fronts, not only the sugarcane,
and how, while we quadruple the production of sugarcane in the province, in
relation to last year, we multiply still more the area of rice plantation
with relation to last year, and how practically in all our crops, without
exception, as is the case of the more than 200 caballerias of onions, this
implies an extraordinary advance and the nearness to the solution of the
supply of many of these products in almost unlimited quantities.

Now, if we studied this on a national scale, how many caballerias are we
planting this second half of the year throughout the country? To speak only
of sugarcane, 23,000 caballerias of sugarcane are being planted. This as
practically four times as much winter cane as we have ever planted before.
And during Spring nearly 10,000 caballerias were planted. So that in 1968
between plant January and 31 December our country will have planted no less
than 32,000 caballerias of sugarcane. [applause]

Besides this, during the first quarter several thousands more caballerias
will be planted in irrigated areas. To this we add the sugarcane plants
that are being cut now. We will be employing in this sowing period between
350 and 400 million arrobas of cane plants. These plants, if they were made
into sugar, would be equivalent to half a million tons of sugar. This
planting is gigantic. We are ensuring the harvest of 1970 and our country
by then will be in a position to cut nearly 40,000 caballerias of new cane.
They will render very well because of the fertilization system, the
irrigation, a provision against any drought, and--very important--the
varieties that are being planted.

Our country now has cane that as early as November reaches 10 percent of
sugar. Many caballerias are being planted of this rich type of cane. So,
between early and late varieties, we will have cane that will be ready for
industrial production from November to May. Skeptics had doubted our 100
million plan, but the measures taken by the revolution will guarantee this
plan even if we had a year of intense drought. The truth is that if we had
a droughtless year, we would be unable to imagine how much sugarcane we
would produce here. But our plans contemplate the possibility of a dry
year.

The impressive achievements obtained in some provinces show the extent that
the fulfillment of this goal is permeating the spirit of the people. For
example, Camaguey Province in one day planted 237 caballerias, and
yesterday Oriente Province planted 462.6 caballerias of sugarcane in one
day. Yesterday 575 caballerias of sugarcane were planted throughout the
country in a single day. [applause] A few days before we had planted 419
caballerias. This figure of 575 at least doubles the highest figure of
sugarcane ever planted in Cuba. And this, despite the rain foods in Las
Villas, Matanzas, and Havana, which prevented the large participation of
these provinces in the planting. If this planting in Oriente had coincided
with a short dry period, like weeks ago, more than 600 caballerias of
sugarcane would have been planted throughout the country in one single day.

This shows the growth of the capabilities of organization, the improvement
of equipment, and above all, the productive force of our people. The
provinces are fulfilling their goals in the sugar plan program, and they
will fulfill without fail, before 31 December, the 23,000 caballerias of
winter cane.

If we add the planting of September 1967 and that of the first quarter of
(?1969) we will have planted in 20 months about 46,000 caballerias of
sugarcane. And this, as the other plans are developed, proves all that can
be done in our country. On occasions the machinery was not enough, and the
men resolved the problems. We must say that our comrade machine operators
of INRA, [National Institute for Agrarian Reform]--a work front that is
directed by major Parra with a group of experts and well qualified
comrades--moved into certain provinces, on certain occasions when there
were not enough tractors in these provinces and remained there for a month,
searching for parts and making extraordinary efforts to put 100 percent of
the tractors in working condition. This they did in the provinces of Las
Villas, Camaguey, and they are now doing it in Oriente Province.

It must be said that these comrades, with their organization and work, have
contributed in an extraordinary way to the fulfillment of these goals, and
it may be said that they have contributed to this plant, with their
efforts, the work of hundreds of tractors. When there were not enough
tractors, the problem had to be resolved, and it was resolved with the
tractors that were available, putting 100 percent of them in operation.
They repaired all those that could be repaired. They declared the workshops
to be guerrillas, and their contribution has been of considerable
importance.

How there is always a reserve! How there are always potential resources!
How, when it seems that the utmost has bee done, new possibilities appear
with organization, with technology? So, it is evidently easy to see the
advancement of our country on all fronts and, above all, on the
agricultural production front.

I was saying that skeptics, those who never believe in anything, never in
their life have they believed in anything and as a result will never
accomplish anything because one who does not believe in anything can never
create nor execute or achieve anything, [applause]. These skeptics saw
these plans as something impossible, or products of fantasy--many of the
plans, the sugar plan in the first place; but also the other plans.

They did so with the coffee. The worms crawled. They said that coffee
(?was) produced in the mountains; they were not aware of the historic fact
that coffee took refuge in the mountains, but that historically our country
was a great coffee producer and that in the past century, colonial times,
Cuba exported as much as 600,000 quintals of coffee. And that coffee was
not in the mountains, [applause] that is, a large portion of that coffee
was not in the mountains. Coffee was planted in the western provinces, in
the plains of Camaguey, in the mountainous areas of Pinar del Rio, and in
limited mountain areas of Oriente, where migrants from Haiti--because of
the revolution many of whom came to Cuba, fleeing from the revolution, and
in many cases bringing their slaves with them--developed coffee plantations
in mountain areas such as La Gran Piedra near Santiago de Cuba, or in the
Soroa mountains of Pinar del Rio. But much of the coffee was produced in
the western areas and on level lands.

The worms crawled and predicted that this coffee would not yield. What they
can predict is that they will not taste this coffee [applause]. The
counterrevolutionary worms abroad never tired of repeating that coffee will
not yield, and things of that sort.

And the facts, which are facts of the will and the efforts of a
revolutionary people, are more and more and more obvious, and our country
is winning, quite obviously, the battle for its development with gigantic
strides. Many of this country's visitors are deeply impressed by the things
they see already, yet the things achieve are merely the beginning.

We have talked about the works of the revolution concretely and in detail
in this province, and, in general terms, of the efforts of the whole
country. Unfortunately, it is not possible for all to know what is being
achieved everywhere. We have been discussing with party comrades in the
Havana Province the future benefit of providing 40 or 50 trucks to haul
1,000 invited workers daily to see the different agricultural plants of the
province. One day, the workers of one sector, another day those of another
sector, and the next day those of still another sector, and (?eventually
all) our workers to [applause], since each works on his own front, in his
sector, where he travels, but has never had the wonderful opportunity to
see the global effort of what hundreds of thousands of workers are doing in
other areas.

And a little later, because now, comrades, with the quantity of plants that
must be transported, with the number of personnel that must be transported,
we cannot make available even one truck for this; but perhaps when the work
on sugarcane, planting, and the tension of these days ease we can. Because,
what will next year's situation be? incomparably easier. In the whole
country next Spring it will not be necessary to plant even one stalk of
sugarcane, all the sugarcane for 1970 is now growing. The complete
greenbelt will have been planted by next year.

This does not mean that work will have ended, much will be done by
machines. The Havana greenbelt next Monday will receive 110 Piccolino
tractors. These are very small tractors, from Italy, with rubber wheels,
that can go through the eye of a needle [applause]. Some of them will be
sent to Pinar del Rio and Isla de Pinos. The battalion of workers who will
make up that machinery battalion have been studying in the school that was
organized by the party. They will receive their 110 machines next Monday,
and as soon as the weather permits they will begin to work.

The "Volgars", which are caterpillar types, of Bulgarian make, will all
work on sugarcane, all of them. With these easily handled tractors the
whole belt will be kept clean. There will always be work on the line. We
are planning specific distances so that the machines may operate not only
lengthwise but also crosswise, to cross in two directions. So that a large
portion of the line may be cleaned by the machines.

In the next nonspring period conditions will be much better to maintain in
perfect condition all that has been planted with the use of the machines.
But we still have to set up coffee nurseries, although not as hurriedly as
the one we had to establish earlier this year to be able to plant in
spring. The figures that we were giving on the goals for coffee nurseries
this year are figures scattered throughout the year. And the figures on
citrus are figures that will require spaced work.

At any rate, this year we had to do everything, nursery, planting,
cleaning, we had to fight a tremendous spring, because this year the rains
decided to fall too heavily; it is always better to have too much than too
little; but the rains did give us a lot of headaches. And we had to do
everything; we had to plant more than 4,000 caballerias of sugarcane. This
will not be so next year; we will be able to concentrate all our efforts on
the planting of grass, rice, and root vegetables, which this year we have
advanced considerably.

So that by the end of 1969, the 35,000 caballerias of this province will be
almost completely in production. A few areas will be left open for the
planting of pineapples; some areas of citrus fruits, because of the size of
the plants that are to be planted in 1970; some areas of bananas and some
forest. And by then the 35,000 agricultural caballerias of Havana Province
will have been planted, all! [applause]

And notwithstanding the water demand in Havana City, which used fabulous
amounts of water, we will have abundant water to irrigate a large part of
those plants. And the same is true throughout the country. Not having to
plant sugarcane next spring, all the machines can be employed on the other
agricultural fronts, more machines than we had early this year. So, having
planted the sugarcane for 1970, and while we watch it grow, we will have to
work hard, timely cultivating the sprouts, and dedicate the machinery to
the other fronts, such as grass, rice, root vegetables, and other plants.
That will be the situation. The country advances visibly.

And I have been enumerating the hundreds and hundreds of works of the
revolution in this province. But in our country there is not only the work
of the revolution; there is also the work of the counterrevolution
[applause].

The work of the revolution is expressed in tens of millions of coffee
seedlings, in hundreds of millions of forest tree plantings, in tens of
millions of citrus tree plantings, tens of thousands of caballerias of
sugarcane, hydraulic works, drainage ditches, forests, botanical gardens,
housing, and schools, in all the creative work of the revolution to bring
well-being to a country which has suffered centuries of abusive, criminal
exploitation.

But the counterrevolution also has its work, and here we have a list of the
main works of the counterrevolution in our country this year.

On 6 April an attempt was made to burn the old ranch-club of Guantanamo
where a large quantity of coffee is currently stored.

On 1 May a fire started in the sugar warehouse of the Juan Manuel Marquez
central in Niquero, Oriente, which had 70,000 sacks.

On 5 May a fire in the Patricio Lumunba tannery, in Caibarien, Las Villas,
caused damage to the machinery, equipment, raw material, and the building,
with a loss of almost one million pesos.

On 8 May a fire started in the warehouse of the Carlos Manuel de Cespedes,
(Covilla), Camaguey, which had 18,000 sacks.

On 12 May burning of the hides storage house in El Cerro, Havana, resulted
in the total loss of the building and stored raw material, including some
for export and some used in making shoes.

On 1 July a chemical fertilizer freighter was burned in Manzanillo.

On 1 July the (?mash) factory for fowls in Santiago de Cuba, was burned.
The factory produced 60 tons daily for the regional fowls plan, with losses
estimated at over 50,000 pesos.

On 8 July (?irons) were introduced in the finished products plant at the
Cubanitro plant in Matanzas. This same action had been taken before. Five
sabotage attempts have been reported at that plant during this year, plus
several cases of negligence and several suspect activities.

On 17 July a fertilizer freighter containing 816 sacks was set of fire in
Guantanamo, with 120 of them totally burned.

On 19 July an individual set on fire, at dawn, a ship which had chemical
fertilizer from Italy, with a loss of 20,000 dollars. The arsonist was
caught. [chanting]

On 27 July [more chanting] July 26 in Moron, Camaguey, an experimental
tobacco house was totally burned.

On 8 August a fire was wet in the tire-recapping plant of the automotive
enterprise in Holguin which produced tires for farm vehicles. The building
was razed and the machinery was destroyed, with a loss of almost 150,000
pesos.

On 31 August an attempt was made to burn a truck loaded with merchandise
which was inside a Ministry of Domestic Trade storehouse in Pinar del Rio,
though the fire was brought under control.

On 2 September in the Cubanitro plant in Matanzas, the machinery had to be
emergency-stopped, due to the drop in air pressure. If the machinery had
not been stopped, an explosion of such magnitude could have occurred it
could have blown up the whole plant, because of the chemical components
produced there.

On 7 September the Ministry of Domestic Trade storehouse of Camaguey was
burned, with a loss of 1.5 million pesos. This included clothing which was
to be distributed to the people.

Other loss important sabotages: In people's stores and (other) public
establishments--11; in fowl and agricultural and livestock farms--five; in
tobacco houses--three; in coffee and forestry plantings--six.

Other counterrevolutionary acts against schools; small schools
burned--unfortunately, as you know, in some areas there are still no big
buildings like this one we are building and the ones like it at Boca de
Jaruco, Valle Grande, Nancahuazu, and other constructions, and in many
areas the schools are small wooden shacks, even thatched huts--and the
counterrevolutionaries are even attacking those buildings.

Thirty-six schools were burned, 13 in Oriente, two in Havana, six in
Camaguey, three in Las Villas, and two in Pinar del Rio, and so on.

This is the work of the counterrevolution.

While the people work hard, while millions of citizens of this country bend
to the task of creating the future, behold the worms, the parasites, the
imperialist-paid agents, trying to hold up, obstruct, and if possible,
destroy what is the fruit of the people's effort.

They had done none of this when the lands of this country were the property
of the Yankee enterprises, when the factories were owned by the privileged
millionaires. When the people had nothing but their work to sell at a
miserable price and without any future in sight for them or their children
or anyone.

Then those wretches did not strike at the sacrosanct private property of
the imperialists and the millionaires. Yet they do not tolerate the
property of the people, they do not stand for the factory that works for
the people, the plan that produces foodstuffs for the people, clothing for
the people, shoes for the people. They are irked over the gains of the
revolution, irked over the successes of the revolution, irked by the
unstemmable progress of the effort of our people, certain that they do not
have much time left for fumbling with intrigue and lies, and certain that
the successes of our revolution's creative work will stand as a historic
event and an extraordinary example for the world.

Rabid, the imperialists and the counterrevolutionaries--those who are
affected by the revolutionary laws--wallow in the mud of their immoral and
criminal actions. Behold how hides that are to be used for making shoes for
workers and children are burned, behold how they destroy anything, though
it may be a dram of the wealth and sweat of the people. But of course, as
the revolution advances, escape is more difficult. As the revolution
advances and is organized, there is no longer room here for any kind of
parasites. [applause]

The parasites know that thy no longer have a place to go. The vagrants know
that they no longer have a place to go. The lumpen know that they no longer
have a place to go. Those who choose the Yankee sweet life and requested
their papers and passports must likewise participate in the people's
efforts, for they cannot live like parasites. [applause and rhythmic hand
clapping]

The Johnsons, the Johnsons, as these sirs are called, are currently, and
until their little telegram [for departure] arrives--those who are
physically fit for it--earning their bread with the sweat of their brow.
And before going over there, to the society of imperialism, they are doing
their bit. Placing their grain of sand for this country. Thus, the field of
action disappears for those elements who float in society, who are
parasites in society, as the revolutionary society organizes. The
shopkeeper has no place to escape to, no place to go out and buy little
things here and there on the blackmarket to sell at 10 times the price
elsewhere, or to resort to those little businesses where those who fled
from work made their way.

But it is only just to say that some of these citizens joined and accepted
the honorable alternative of work, though others do not and never will
accept it. And thus you can see, among the very band of the CIA agents
captured by the State Security [Department], such an element, such a
lumpen--former henchmen of the National Investigations Service (SIN) or the
investigations bureau, and petty politicians who never wrinkled their
shirts--that it is revolting just to read the social background and origin
of the type of elements the CIA resorts to for spies to carry out its
attached against the revolution.

And by the same token you will find at the bottom of many of these
counterrevolutionary activities the very elements who find it harder and
harder to live like parasites. To live from work will never be made
impossible to any conscientious, working man in this country. But life
already is becoming impossible for all those individuals who floated in the
air, who lived like a parasite and contributed absolutely nothing for the
country.

Our country is increasingly becoming a society of workers, manual or
intellectual workers, of students, and revolutionary combatants. Logically,
in the measure that the revolutionary endeavor advances, the enemies;
irritation and hatred will mount, and the irritation of all those elements
for whom the revolution become intolerable will mount and they will do
their utmost to damage the revolution's work. These elements seize upon any
instant the guard is lowered and upon any negligence.

The tasks of the revolution is the working people and their effort for
development are enormous. Enormous too, and highly valuable are the
activities on all the fronts for the Committees for the Defense of the
Revolution. [applause]

However, if for one instant they forget that the enemy exists, that the
struggle of classes is being and will be maintained in the field of action
and ideology--a long stretch yet ahead--if they lower their guard, they
[must know that] the enemies will make capital of any letdown in vigilance,
of any letdown in the defense and protection of our installations.

They will think nothing, if a factory is left unguarded because everyone is
busy working, of seizing the opportunity to damage it. Nonetheless, this
revolution will never allow anyone to attack the most sacred rights of our
working people. It will never allow anyone to destroy with impunity so much
as a single drop, the product of a single drop of our people's sweat.
[applause]

And let no one, of course, later say that the revolution is harsh. Let not
these elements who plot against the people's work charge that the people
are harsh. Let them not say later that they had not been forewarned. For
the revolutionary laws stand and are severe. And if they are not sever
enough yet, the revolution can enact still more severe ones. [prolonged
applause]

Let them not say later that they had not been forewarned nor that thy did
not know, because if we know anything, this revolution is a hard struggle,
a death struggle against the powerful imperialist enemy which encourages
and always will encourage these actions. This is a struggle to the death.
The people in their wisdom and instinct realize this. This is a struggle
for the survival of the revolution or the counterrevolution, and when
things stack up thusly, halfway terms are ruled out and the measures are
and must be extreme. [applause]

Every counterrevolutionary, as every worm knows, thinks and dreams of the
day he can overthrow the revolution. He dreams of the illusion of the
number of heads he could make roll if that possibility existed; if such a
thing could happen.

We are aware of how much hatred he carries in his heart; how much hatred he
bears in his breasts against the triumphant people--the hatred of the
imperialists and their lackeys, the hatred of the exploiters and their
lackeys. We also know this, just as we also are aware of the nature of this
struggle, just what the rules of this game are. Before this revolution can
cease to exist, no head of a single revolutionary will remain on his
shoulders in this country. [prolonged applause, chanting] these are, these
are the rules of the game; these are the rules of the game. Before they can
destroy this revolution, the heads of all who may want to destroy it will
roll. [applause]

All the rest is foolishness. This history's reality; all else is pure
idealism; all else means deceiving one's self. The people are not deceived.
Woe to the people's enemies if they err; woe to the people's enemies if
they do not understand these laws. For the revolutionary tribunals stand,
and the laws stand, and without any ifs or buts, the revolution, and the
people's rights and labor. The revolution will be drastic, implacable, and
inflexible. [prolonged applause] Furthermore, in the front rank of that
struggle, mounting the first guard in constant vigilance against the
enemies of the revolution, stand and will stand the Committees for the
Defense of the Revolution. [prolonged applause]

Thus, let no one escape, nor with impugnity commit his wrongdoings. The
imperialist enemy, the reactionary enemy, wages his battle in many fields
and with many weapons, and among these in the ideological field--never
forget this--is the weapon of creating illusions, above all creating the
illusion that wealth can be had without labor, or that any people can
attain anything without struggling and working hard--and in all fields,
awakening all kinds of illusions they press forth their battle. This is why
the conscience must be alert so as to be ready to counter it everywhere and
in every vicissitude.

These very days rumors have been circulating about the schools and
children. They have been attempting to scare the families, playing up the
unfortunate case of a child who died accidentally in the swimming pool in
Guanabo. Some took it upon themselves to set off fantastic rumors about the
kidnaping of children, vampire acts, and I do not know what else. Trying to
play on the feelings of mothers and creating fear, they have no qualms
whatsoever. And the fact is, who could harm any child in our country with
all the people there to defend him with the revolution, its power, its
laws, and all its strength?

Indeed, when some such thing occurs, react rapidly, act against it, request
guidance, and act against all such fantastic things. Our organization can
immediately refute all such foolishness, all the things the enemy tries by
every means. if there is an epidemic--an epidemic arose and it was
combatted instantly with every means at hand. The fact is that the country
never possessed more means, it was never better defended against all types
of sicknesses. If one arises, it is combatted, and if 10 break out, these
are combatted, always. However, there will not be one thing which they will
not seize upon to sow alarm, fear, and uneasiness.

But nothing can scare this people, nothing. The Yankees did not frighten
them when they were threatening to drop atomic bombs over this country. No
one got scared here. What could there be that would be capable of
frightening this people? [applause]

One field, the ideological one, is more subtle in form. Thus for example,
there is something which is fresh in your minds during the past few months.
Here in our capital, a certain odd, "slight phenomenon" arose--among a
group of young teenagers, and some not so young; you may note, I said
teenagers--which was the outgrowth of a number of factors; sometimes
undoubtedly traumatic, sometimes relatives of persons who leave, sometimes
youths who have gone wrong through neglect of the families themselves, and
very frequently due to the negative influence of given persons over them
who inculcate the youths with certain ideas and certain activities.

Thus we saw some groups of teenagers, some numbering as much as a hundred,
influenced among other things by the imperialist propaganda which led them
to make a public show of their shamelessness. Thus, for example, they took
to living extravagantly, assembling in certain streets of the city, in the
port district opposite the Capri Hotel. And what do you think they did?
Some took to corrupting 14 and 15 year-old girls and encouraging
prostitution among girls, practically 14, 15, and 16 year-old girls,
serving as go-betweens for foreigners in transit through Cuba, with sailors
from ships of capitalist countries who were lodged in this zone.

And these individuals went so far as to practically--with those
persons--practically sell the girls in the heart of the revolutionary
capital in a country that has extirpated the repugnant social sore of
prostitution, in virtue of which tens of thousands of women were exploited
and led to the most sorrowful and indignant life, things which of course
are natural to a capitalist society.

The revolution carried out tremendous efforts. It eradicated prostitution,
and there you have an ideological path where manifestations crop up with
the tendency to revive those sores of selling women, and if not women,
girls to transient foreigners in this country.

To seek the problem of obtaining American cigarettes from sailors, to carry
around their little battery radios to flashily maintain their leaning
toward imperialist propaganda, to steal and commit other kind of felonies,
to break telephones, which are (free) to the people but which they did not
break when these belonged to a Yankee monopoly, to break into schools to
destroy equipment, to destroy Cuban flags, to destroy pictures of Che
[shouting: "No, No,"] and such, and bragging about their extravagant
actions.

And I say extravagant because the revolution has not been demanding. It has
not been imposing anything on anyone but to respect people's rights to the
utmost. It is not against progress in any sense. But naturally this is not
the point. Outright criminal activities, intolerable activities--and it was
not just because their brazenness led them to be so ostentatious that they
went to the extreme of gathering in those places openly, to the disgust and
repugnance of the people and workers.

When we talked with university students and workers, they more than once
called to our attention because they were shocked at those activities going
on while the people devoted themselves to working. And what did the youths
think? That we were living under a bourgeois regime. no, we have not one
hair that is liberal. We are revolutionaries. We are socialists. We are
collectivists. We are communists. [prolonged applause]

And what did they want to introduce? A revived version of Prague? Mobile
prostitution? A (zerito)? A selling of women? Parasitism? The ideological
resoftening of the people, whose youth struggle studying, preparing for the
struggle, whose youth have always, and everytime a sacrifice is demanded,
have been present shedding blood and giving their all? [And this] among a
people who are forging an iron spirit, an iron will, a people that must be
constantly prepared to struggle and for many years? What did they think?
That we were going to introduce these rotton things in our country and
permit it? [shouting: "No"]

How long will they keep being mistaken about the revolution? Naturally,
however, the comrades of the revolution were studying the case, and we must
always have a measure of patience, not get overworked until things become
evident. The comrade minister of education tried persuasive means with some
of those youths--he tried to counsel them well, though counseling alone was
not going to be all--and if they do not understand persuasion, then they
will have to understand other types of procedures. [applause]

And simply this, as the revolution could not allow that, it grabbed all of
them. And to those for whom it may be necessary, for those who scandalously
participated in those activities--which the revolution will no
tolerate--those youths will be trained or retrained. The revolution will
take up each case, as warranted, [shouting] in the classical case of
education, many parents have the misfortune, through neglect, of having
their sons go wrong. We believe that this will call the parents attention
to their duty toward their children--to the problem that there can be no
child that is a vagrant and does not study.

Just as the law on the vanguard workers and on full compensation in the
event of illness and death is being discussed in working centers, so too
will we discuss the law of compulsory education up to the preuniversity
level. [applause] Thus, the six primary grades, the basic secondary, and
the three years of middle-superior schooling will be compulsory by law. And
boys and girls at the middle-superior school level will receive military
training. [shouts and applause] Of course, these same youths progressively,
along with their studies, will receive military training and carry out the
defense task like the ones called to service.

The Military Service Law will stand, so as to call up those youths between
15 and so many years who are not studying. In the future, therefore, every
youth, say about 16 or 14 years, who is not duly studying will be called to
service.

The law must still meet some needs, but we already have many military units
served by the technological institutes. These are splendid young men who
are very aptly assimilating the modern military technique. In the future
then, our army will be an army of cadres; specialized minors who will
simultaneously participate in production activities; tank operators who
will spend part of the year training and another part operating
steamshovels, bulldozers, and complicated machinery; drivers who will spend
part of the time training and part in production like any other work; and
highly specialized command cadres, and the rest of the arm, all the people;
the permanent artillery and infantry services--all served by students of
the technological institutes. That is how the army will be in the future.

The service will be maintained for recruiting nonstudying youths whom it is
necessary to somehow make useful citizens, and to make him study and keep
up with the collective society.

We must keep in mind the [Centennial] Youth Column and think of how many
tens of thousands were necessary to send to Camaguey. We must keep in mind
that we want everyone to study, everyone. For all society loses out if a
single child remains without studying; everytime a young man does not study
he will be a burden on society.

In the future, no one lacking a series of basic studies will be in a
position to understand, live, and produce in a highly technical society,
above all the youth. Naturally, we cannot ask everyone to study now. This
generation is passing and is being replaced by a new one. And one cannot
truly conceive of a youth in the future who lacks all the education he
should and can receive. The only exceptions will be those who for one
mental reason or another are incapable of studying. In other words, study
will be compulsory for every child and youth. Military training stems from
his learning, the learning of all the people who must learn the use of arms
and learn this well. And the revolution will concentrate on this effort,
developing education to the maximum.

On occasion, we have pointed to the need to exert an effort to construct
housing, as it is a pressing problem. However, we must declare that we are
beginning to conclude that it is much more important for us to channel the
steel, cement, and other available resources primarily to building schools,
more schools, and semiboarding schools like the type in Boca de Jaruco,
secondary schools for scholarships are increasingly greater and it is very
difficult to satisfy them. There are already 110,000 students in the sixth
grade, and 360,000 in the first grade, and approximately 1,440,000 in the
primary grades--an enormous, gigantic mass of children and youth students.
They reach the sixth grade and in many places there is no secondary school.
There is no technological institute, or where there is a secondary school,
there is no preuniversity or technological institute. What to do about it?
Is the country to lose all this youth? Is the country to lose the
opportunity for these youth to study? Are these youths to be left without
opportunity to study because the country does not have enough institutions?
We believe, therefore, and our people will agree, that 500 schools today
serve more for the present and even more for the future of the country than
10,000 houses. We certainly believe that this is so. [applause] If
resolving the housing problems takes us several years longer, we cannot
adopt the same attitude about schools. Resources are not sufficient to do
both. This does not mean that we are stopping the building of houses. No!
No! It means that we are inclined to the idea of giving more priority to
the construction of schools and technological institutions than to the
construction of houses because we consider this front or that need more
urgent, more peremptory, and more decisive for the future of our country.

At any rate, we shall still be delayed many years in completely resolving
the housing problem. We cannot say that we are going to wait so many years
to totally resolve the secondary schools we lack and all the technological
institutions that are lacking. We believe this viewpoint will undoubtedly
have the understanding and support of all the people. [applause]

An enormous mass-a result of the effort of these years--of children
studying will transform this country. We have estimated that within 12
years the number of middle-level technicians of our country will be no less
than 800,000.

Someone will say that everyone will be a technician. Yes, everyone will
have to become a technician because there will not be a single activity in
future years that does not require solid preparation, and it will be
required for everything: to make fertilizer to make a herbicide, to make
any machine.

Each day man will be less involved physically in production and work, it
will be machines that will fundamentally do the physical work and a society
to dominate machines must be mentally trained for this.

Our youth, our students, are giving proof of a magnificent revolutionary
spirit, and magnificent consciousness is incorporated in the activities of
all types that are contributing to solve many of the problems.

This is really the representation of our youth. These are the ideas. These
are the prospects of the future, so let the rules of the game be well known
in this: what the revolutionary ideas are, what counterrevolutionary ideas
are, what the enemy's actions are in the ideological camp and be attentive
wherever they raise their heads, regardless of how the counterrevolution is
distinguished, to confront it and combat it.

And we repeat: liberalism, no; softening, no; a revolutionary people, an
organized people, a combative people, a strong people, because these are
the virtues that are needed, in these years. All the rest is pure illusion.
It would be to underestimate the task, underestimate the enemy,
underestimate the historic importance of these years, underestimate the
struggle that we have ahead of us.

Today, when the hour of this ceremony is approaching and interminable
caravans were going to the Plaza of the Revolution, one could appreciate
what this people is, what its strength is, how, as if part of an army, men
and women, the youngest persons those less young, had an appointment in one
place, with equal enthusiasm, coming to this historic Plaza of the
Revolution. And this ceremony always is a proof of the combativeness of the
masses.

We knew that the ceremony this year was going to be even more combative?
More enthusiastic, because in it would be reflected the spirit of which the
people of the capital give proof in their heroic and magnificent creative
force, the proof that the masses of our capital are giving. And certainly,
once again, we felt our gratitude and our admiration for the enormous
effort that the CDR has made.

Here were read these data and they will be published, so that all fronts
and all the efforts that our organization of the CER--each year with more
organization, each year with consciousness--have been making may be seen
and today we have the impression of an enormous army, the army of the
people, organized, disciplined, enthusiastic, disposed to carry out the
task given to the, disposed to wage the battle whatever it may be and
wherever it may be. [applause]

Fatherland or death, we will win!
-END-